Snowed In
by Judanim
Summary: AU. When a blizzard hits Zanarkand, what chaos will it wield upon the citizens? (Rated PG13 for stuff littered throughout, and for safety, duh.)


Author's Note: I know...I know... The idea for this story may sound a little corny and even "played out," but hear me out. You may actually like this story. Anyway, please don't kill me for all the liberties I take here. First off, everyone's ages are screwed up, for the most part. Second, a lot of the relations are screwed up too. Third, some characters _may_ be a little OOC. Forgive me for that. Lastly, I'm using one of my original characters in this story mostly 'cause I can (it's Camilla for those who don't know...she's from Sleepless Dreams. Go check that story out, after this one of course!). Because this story is AU, I get to do that. Or do I...? Hmm. An interesting question. But, yeah...the story takes place in Zanarkand, which has now been converted to a city not too unlike New York City or something. Maybe even Washington D.C. Nah. DC has _way_ too many traffic problems. Though, Zanarkand probably did too... (Note to reader: Ignore my rambling!)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything here, except for Camilla. I'd like to own Auron, but alas, he belongs to Squenix for as long as they want to hold him prisoner. -sigh-

Snowed In  
by Judanim

Chapter One: _"I'm Dreaming of a White Zanarkand"_

Tidus noticed something strange when he looked out his bedroom window that particular morning. Rather than seeing the normal sprawling, picturesque view of Zanarkand, he saw the same buildings and overpasses covered in a foot of snow! "Holy crap!" he exclaimed. "Bro, take a look at this!"

Shuyin, Tidus' twin brother, came to stand in the doorway of his brother's room. "What?"

"There's like a foot of frickin' snow on the ground!"

The slightly elder child raised an eyebrow, suspicious. Tidus was prone to pulling practical jokes on people, but most especially his family. "I'm not falling for it, unless you've got proof."

Tidus threw open the curtain and indicated to the window. "Dude, do you honestly think I'm making this up?"

"Holy crap!" Shuyin's blue eyes went wide.

"'Holy crap' is right," a deep, gruff voice called from the hallway. Their father, Jecht, stood there with a broken shovel and soaked boots. "This stuff is dangerous. The worst part is, it's not going to let up any time soon. Every last institution in the city is shut down. Traveling is impossible."

The brothers let out a whoop of happiness, exchanging high-fives. Tidus started singing something about there being no school, while Shuyin started towards his room to get dressed.

"And where are you going?" Jecht asked.

"I'm going to see Lenne," his son answered simply, changing into a pair of blue jeans (with another pair of pants underneath), a navy blue long-sleeved shirt, and snow boots with double socks. "She needs to know about this."

"I'm sure she already knows."

Shuyin looked up at his dad and smirked. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to tell her anyway." With that, he went downstairs, grabbed his jacket, and went outside.

Jecht shook his head. If the boy got himself killed or caught pneumonia, it was his fault, and no one else's.

* * *

Camilla groaned as she drove down the Spiran interstate at roughly ten miles an hour. It was bad enough that it was snowing so hard that it was nearly impossible to see three feet in front of you, but to top it off most of the drivers on the road forgot how to drive! It didn't help that the radio kept repeating over and over the fact that nearly every establishment in Zanarkand was closed until further notice.

"All schools, government buildings, and public restroom facilities are officially shut down," the disc jockey said. "In other news, Maester Mika announced-"

She abruptly cut off the radio. Politics was the last thing she wanted to hear about, especially since she was in a terrible mood at the moment. She looked to the passenger seat and, for a moment, smiled. She then gently nudged the person sitting there. "Wake up."

The man wearing a red jacket and black jeans looked startled. "Are we there yet? In fact, are we even moving?"

"Slowly, but surely," she answered. "You look like crap, Auron."

He shrugged. "You try sitting through horrendous midterms, and then having to spend the holidays with one of the most dysfunctional families in Spira. Besides, you don't look so great either."

At his words, she had to raise an eyebrow. Auron was never exactly the talkative type. Though, she found, that when he discovered something to really talk about, sometimes you couldn't get him to shut up. "Well, I have an excuse. I'm driving during a snowstorm near Zanarkand. Two things that don't add up for the best of results."

Auron smirked. "It doesn't sound like they would. Shouldn't you call your dad? He might be worried, since you were supposed to be in last night."

Camilla nodded. "Good idea." She fished her cell phone out of her coat pocket and pressed the speed dial for her family's house. Within a few rings, there was an answer. "Hi, Dad," she greeted.

Jecht's gruff voice came in clear over the line. "Camilla? Where are you? You said you'd get here last night."

"It seems I wasn't the only one who wanted to get out of Bevelle," she answered, being very careful to not mention Auron. "Traffic has been a nightmare all up and down Pilgrimage Road. We're moving at, like, ten miles an hour, if that. Luckily I'm not too far from the suburb limits now."

"Then I'll be expecting you in another two hours," Jecht laughed.

She laughed as well. "Make it three. Tell Tidus and Shuyin I said hi."

"Tidus I can do, but Shuyin might prove more difficult." Her father sighed. "He decided to go out in foot-deep snow to see Lenne."

"Well, won't she be pleasantly surprised to find that his lower extremities have been frozen off?" Camilla shook her head, marveling at her brother's idiocy while Auron shot her a bemused look.

Jecht chuckled. "I doubt even that would stop him. I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay, bye Dad." She closed her cell phone and put it back in her pocket. She finally noticed Auron's expression. "What?"

"Which one of your brothers is getting himself neutered?" he asked.

"Shuyin."

* * *

Lenne pulled the blanket tighter around her as she watched the snowfall outside. Her couch was also occupied by two of her best friends, Yuna and Rikku. All three sat in their pajamas drinking hot cocoa and watching the news.

"My question is, in all of Spira's history, has it ever snowed this much anywhere except Mount Gagazet?" Rikku asked. She had blonde hair and swirling green eyes, and her pajamas matched the emerald of her eyes. "I mean, really?"

Yuna shrugged. "The Calm Lands can get pretty bad snow during the winter, plus Lake Macalania. But I've never heard of Zanarkand getting any." She had brown hair and mismatching eyes (one green, one blue). She donned purple pajama pants with a white tank top.

"According to the genius meteorologists at Channel 9, Zanarkand was too close to the water to get any substantial amount of snow," Lenne said. She had long, dark brown hair that was currently in a ponytail, with brown eyes, and she wore navy blue pajamas.

"Genius indeed," a male voice said from down the hall. A man wearing casual blue jeans and a dark pink button-down shirt came into the living room. This was Nooj, Lenne's older brother. "I'm just lucky I left Bevelle two days ago instead of yesterday. My friends Camilla and Auron left yesterday, and they got caught in bad traffic, plus the snowstorm."

"Wow." Yuna thought for a moment. "Hey, did you say Camilla? Isn't that Tidus and Shuyin's older sister?"

Nooj nodded. "Yep."

Suddenly there was a knock on the front door. None of the girls made any move to leave the warm and comfortable couch. So, with a shake of his head, Nooj turned around and went to see whom it was. Rikku tried to peek her head around the corner to see who it was, but she nearly fell off the couch in the process. This caused a great amount of giggling among them, which was probably made worse by the sugar of the hot cocoa. Finally Nooj came back down the hallway with someone walking behind him. This someone had to have at least three layers of clothing on, plus a huge royal blue ski jacket. None of the group could resist laughter at this point, Lenne laughing the hardest.

"Shuyin! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, wheezing slightly.

A muffled noise came out from underneath the mass of clothes.

"What? We can't hear you!" Rikku giggled.

Slowly, Shuyin unwrapped himself from his cocoon of outerwear. Nooj made him take his boots off as well due to the fact that they were already dripping on the floor. After all this was done, he sat down next to Lenne on the arm of the couch.

"All right, now down to business," Lenne started with a giggle. "What are you doing here when there's a foot and a half of snow on the ground? Shouldn't you be at your own house, putting up with one of Tidus' victory dances or helping your dad shovel snow?"

Shuyin gave a small grin. "Well, as appealing as both of those options sound, I decided to come here to tell you that there's a huge snowstorm and Zanarkand got hit pretty hard, so there's no definitely no school. That, and you shouldn't walk outside until it subsides, which might never happen. Which means that we can cozy up and"

"Hey, no suggestive flirtation with my sister while I'm looking directly at you," Nooj cut in. "I may seem like I wouldn't interfere, but trust me, I have an overprotective brother mode."

The blond held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry."

Lenne could only laugh. She sent a playful glare to Nooj, who merely grinned smugly in reply. She shook her head and wrapped an arm around Shuyin's waist, resting her head on his chest. "You really came all this way just for me?"

"Yep," Shuyin replied.

Yuna watched the two, a small smile on her face. Sure, she might've been slightly jealous because her friend had been asked out by one of the most popular guys in school last year, but she was also happy for her. Now she only wished that she had the courage to talk to _her_ dream guy.

"Oh, Yuna, I heard a funny rumor about you yesterday," Shuyin said.

"What's that?" Yuna looked mystified. She wasn't exactly the type of girl that usually had rumors about her floating about the school.

"Apparently, your brother is coming into town," Lenne's object of affection replied.

"Oh, yeah, he is," Yuna answered. "He should be here later today, if the snowstorm hasn't slowed him down. He's coming in with a friend from Bikanel. I haven't seen him in ages. We haven't spoken a lot since he left the house a couple years ago."

Rikku looked curious. "Who's his friend?" She already knew the story of Yuna's brother, so that wouldn't be the first question she would ask.

"I don't know." Yuna thought for a moment. "But, if he's from Bikanel, then he's bound to be Al Bhed, right?"

Lenne smirked. "So, let me get this straight. The son of a Yevon official befriends an Al Bhed? That's pretty good."

"It shows that Spira has come a long way," Nooj said. "We're not 'separate but equal' anymore. The Al Bhed have almost as many rights as everyone else, which is a definite improvement. Of course, they still can't join the Crusaders, but that's something different."

"Oh, they can't join, but they sure can be drafted!" Rikku exclaimed. "The maesters are serious hypocrites. Why don't they show that same kind of discrimination to the Guado and the Ronso? It's not fair!" Being Al Bhed herself, she was seriously sensitive about the subject.

"The Guado and Ronso control major assets of Spira," Nooj rationalized. "The Guado have control over the Farplane, which means that the temples have to be in bed with them. And the Ronso control Mount Gagazet, so upsetting them might mean Zanarkand would be cut off from Bevelle and the rest of Spira, and Zanarkand's machina is precious to the rest of the country. The Al Bhed have power, too, but it's something the maesters think they can take without permission, which would of course be wrong and cause backlash."

Rikku folded her arms angrily across her chest. "Well, if we had the manpower to protect the oil wells and gas lines, then maybe we wouldn't have such a problem."

Nooj laughed. "Welcome to the Conspirators Club, Rikku. You've completed the initiation process, and now you may begin ranting at full risk to your personal health. I am Nooj, the founder of this dangerous organization. What will your first life-altering words be?"

"Yevon needs to get their priorities straight, because there might just be an uprising, and it won't be just us Al Bhed," Rikku said with a murderous glare in her eyes, but a grin on her lips.

Everyone else in the room started laughing, shouting out agreements in the process. Shuyin even did a good impression of Maester Mika, the leader of Spira, reacting to the so-called "uprising."

Yes, even with the snow outside, a normal day was commencing in Zanarkand.


End file.
